End of Year Update
I know I don't post much, so I'll try to cover alot here form the past few months and make an effort to update more frequently.
So where to start...
Well, Halloween kept us very busy, we were working pretty much 10, 12 and 14 hour days, 7 days a week for about a month and a half straight. So business was good, but alot of it was spent on stocking up on supplies and getting some new tools. We got a new air compressor, airbrushes and started buying bulk foam latex.
.
Rick has handed over Lyonshel to us to run the production, we don't own it, and pay him a percentage of sales. So at the beginning of October he showed up here with a pickup truck full of his molds and equipment. It took days to sort it all out, we still don't have all his pieces online, he doesn't have masters of most of his pieces and we need to make masters before resuming production of some pieces since some only have 1 mold left in existence. We also had to spend some money on more Ikea shelves to handle all the new molds.
Of course Halloween was frustrating, we just couldn't please some people. One person in particular ordered red and white ears "just like in the photo" So we make and shipped them. But it was wrong, she meant she wanted the brown and white ones. It was COMPLETELY our fault according to her and we were "incompetent" and we needed to make our site easier. I didn't know red = brown...
Anyways, we broke our record by shipping 23 orders in one day.
November came around too fast, and since then we've been playing catch-up on our commissions. They've piled up and I'm whittling down the pile.
Our cat Spook needed to be put down, she had feline Lukemia and was severely anemic and weak and dehydrated. It was sad, the vet honestly said there was nothing reasonable to do. Even if we treated her, she'd only have a few months to love, which was sad since she was only a little over a year old... So she also ate up the remaining Halloween profit.
We've been trying to get a chest freezer ever since we moved here, but every time we get a little ahead, stuff like vet bills or having to restock supplies or something new comes up like "oh the air compressor quit, we need a new one", or "My only pair of pants' crotch is worn out and my only shoes have holes in them, I NEED some new clothes" and now it's "oh my hard drives are failing, I need to get a new one so we can keep the business going." Just constant expenses keep popping up.
I did manage to pay off my OSAP loam. Stupid worthless student loan.... I should laminate their thank you letter.
My birthday was uneventful.
Thanksgiving and Christmas were the same. Stayed home and worked. New Year's will be the same. I don't really go out anywhere or do anything anymore. We've been in Toronto over a year and we've yet to see Church Street, eat at a sit-down restaurant, see a movie, visit anyone at their place, let alone make friends... Maybe things will get better.
In the personal life, Kippo's been making alot of effort lately to be closer, which is nice, though we still have a long way to go. I hope that the new year will bring us closer. He's trying hard to help with more projects and to keep the place clean..
For the first time in a long time he did some bedroom stuff for me, which was pretty fun and I hope we can continue to do it.
In the family life, my younger brother Matt, was convicted of drunk driving and got a 2 year suspension, fine and will be forced to install one of those breathalyzer machines in his car when he gets his license back. My parents were almost sued by the people he hit, since he was under their insurance. My older sister was sued since he totaled a rental vehicle she rented for him. He got a little banged up, broke his girlfriend's arm. he's lucky he didn't kill the people in the other car or himself.
He's also in a bitter custody dispute over Marshal, my only nephew, as far as I'm concerned, both Matt and Vicky are unfit parents. Vicky moved with Marshal to a crappy "ghetto" apartment in the Donovan in Sudbury, which is a horrible area for raising a child. Full of drugs, muggings and violence. Probably the worst place in Sudbury, she still dumps him on my parents and still drags him out late at night when she wants to "hang out" with her friends.
My younger sister, Julia, pretty much quit her job, bailed on her lease for her apartment in Sudbury to move to Kirkland Lake, where Matt was living, and the landlord tried to sue my parents for the back rent owed and for breaking the lease. Except they weren't co-signers and didn't have to pay a cent thankfully.
So WTF is up with my brother and sister going and dragging these lawsuits home to my parents... can't they take any responsibility for their lives/actions?
Now my brother is moving back to Subdury from Kirkland Lake and I have no idea what kind of work he'll find, every job he's had so far in his life has only last a few months. But also Sudbury's in a deep hole right now with no jobs at all.. Because of the Lave Inco Strike.
My dad is a Vale-Inco miner, and part of the local 6500, thus he's on strike , almost 6 months now, so my parents are pretty broke. I hope things will turn around for them in the new year. my mom took an office job at a company that will be closing soon, so it's at least something for the moment. They came close already to losing everything.
My older sister Melissa had her baby prematurely, the baby's ok though and she named her Olivia. Since I don't speak to Melissa anymore, I'll probably never see Olivia except in photos from Matt or Julia.
Sorry about a wall of text.
So here's hoping the new year will bring about some positive changes and events in my life.
So where to start...
Well, Halloween kept us very busy, we were working pretty much 10, 12 and 14 hour days, 7 days a week for about a month and a half straight. So business was good, but alot of it was spent on stocking up on supplies and getting some new tools. We got a new air compressor, airbrushes and started buying bulk foam latex.
.
Rick has handed over Lyonshel to us to run the production, we don't own it, and pay him a percentage of sales. So at the beginning of October he showed up here with a pickup truck full of his molds and equipment. It took days to sort it all out, we still don't have all his pieces online, he doesn't have masters of most of his pieces and we need to make masters before resuming production of some pieces since some only have 1 mold left in existence. We also had to spend some money on more Ikea shelves to handle all the new molds.
Of course Halloween was frustrating, we just couldn't please some people. One person in particular ordered red and white ears "just like in the photo" So we make and shipped them. But it was wrong, she meant she wanted the brown and white ones. It was COMPLETELY our fault according to her and we were "incompetent" and we needed to make our site easier. I didn't know red = brown...
Anyways, we broke our record by shipping 23 orders in one day.
November came around too fast, and since then we've been playing catch-up on our commissions. They've piled up and I'm whittling down the pile.
Our cat Spook needed to be put down, she had feline Lukemia and was severely anemic and weak and dehydrated. It was sad, the vet honestly said there was nothing reasonable to do. Even if we treated her, she'd only have a few months to love, which was sad since she was only a little over a year old... So she also ate up the remaining Halloween profit.
We've been trying to get a chest freezer ever since we moved here, but every time we get a little ahead, stuff like vet bills or having to restock supplies or something new comes up like "oh the air compressor quit, we need a new one", or "My only pair of pants' crotch is worn out and my only shoes have holes in them, I NEED some new clothes" and now it's "oh my hard drives are failing, I need to get a new one so we can keep the business going." Just constant expenses keep popping up.
I did manage to pay off my OSAP loam. Stupid worthless student loan.... I should laminate their thank you letter.
My birthday was uneventful.
Thanksgiving and Christmas were the same. Stayed home and worked. New Year's will be the same. I don't really go out anywhere or do anything anymore. We've been in Toronto over a year and we've yet to see Church Street, eat at a sit-down restaurant, see a movie, visit anyone at their place, let alone make friends... Maybe things will get better.
In the personal life, Kippo's been making alot of effort lately to be closer, which is nice, though we still have a long way to go. I hope that the new year will bring us closer. He's trying hard to help with more projects and to keep the place clean..
For the first time in a long time he did some bedroom stuff for me, which was pretty fun and I hope we can continue to do it.
In the family life, my younger brother Matt, was convicted of drunk driving and got a 2 year suspension, fine and will be forced to install one of those breathalyzer machines in his car when he gets his license back. My parents were almost sued by the people he hit, since he was under their insurance. My older sister was sued since he totaled a rental vehicle she rented for him. He got a little banged up, broke his girlfriend's arm. he's lucky he didn't kill the people in the other car or himself.
He's also in a bitter custody dispute over Marshal, my only nephew, as far as I'm concerned, both Matt and Vicky are unfit parents. Vicky moved with Marshal to a crappy "ghetto" apartment in the Donovan in Sudbury, which is a horrible area for raising a child. Full of drugs, muggings and violence. Probably the worst place in Sudbury, she still dumps him on my parents and still drags him out late at night when she wants to "hang out" with her friends.
My younger sister, Julia, pretty much quit her job, bailed on her lease for her apartment in Sudbury to move to Kirkland Lake, where Matt was living, and the landlord tried to sue my parents for the back rent owed and for breaking the lease. Except they weren't co-signers and didn't have to pay a cent thankfully.
So WTF is up with my brother and sister going and dragging these lawsuits home to my parents... can't they take any responsibility for their lives/actions?
Now my brother is moving back to Subdury from Kirkland Lake and I have no idea what kind of work he'll find, every job he's had so far in his life has only last a few months. But also Sudbury's in a deep hole right now with no jobs at all.. Because of the Lave Inco Strike.
My dad is a Vale-Inco miner, and part of the local 6500, thus he's on strike , almost 6 months now, so my parents are pretty broke. I hope things will turn around for them in the new year. my mom took an office job at a company that will be closing soon, so it's at least something for the moment. They came close already to losing everything.
My older sister Melissa had her baby prematurely, the baby's ok though and she named her Olivia. Since I don't speak to Melissa anymore, I'll probably never see Olivia except in photos from Matt or Julia.
Sorry about a wall of text.
So here's hoping the new year will bring about some positive changes and events in my life.